Valentine Fortune Cookies

I'm a sucker for most holidays.  During December you will see me giggling with glee, as I make my husband trek up to the attic in search of my boxes of holiday wonder (aka, Christmas decorations). He faithfully does his duty, perched precariously on each attic board designated as "safe", to prevent falling another falling-through-the-attic-floor incident.  To this day we have a hole - curiously the same size as my husband - in our garage ceiling.

In November, I start scouring my cookbooks to plan the big turkey day meal, and browse the internet for fun table decorations that I always say I'll have time to make, but never do.  July 4th is the epitome of Americana here; Red, white and blue, stars galore, strawberry pie and sparklers too:)  This balmy summer night, we sit in our very classy walmart brand lawn chairs, to watch the fireworks overhead and set off our "city approved" fountains in the driveway.  See what I mean?  Holidays are fun.

Valentine's Day has never really been a big deal at our house though.  Why?  I don't know.  Maybe because we get tired of being saturated with red hearts and pink polka dots the second that Christmas is over.   Maybe we think it's ridiculous how much restaurants charge for a meal on this day.  Maybe we're just crotchety Valentine's scrooges:)  Don't get me wrong, we still celebrate it in our own way, we just don't shower ourselves in copious amounts of roses and giant boxes of chocolate.  While way shy away from some of this holiday's festivities, there's no denying how much I love my family, and I love to show them in my own way- like these Valentine's Fortune Cookies:)

I thought it would be fun to create something with my son for a Valentine's post, and we turned out these super cute Valentine's Fortune Cookies.  They are quick and fairly simple to make, are a great kid friendly activity, and chances are you already have most of the ingredients in your kitchen.

Valentine's Fortune Cookies
Prep: 5 min; Cook: 12 min; Servings: 24

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large egg whites
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
semi sweet chocolate chips for melting
red decorator sugar
heart shaped sprinkles
paper and pen to write your valentine notes

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the oil and egg whites, whisking until smooth. Whisk in the water and vanilla.

Drop a rounded teaspoon of batter onto a well-greased baking sheet. Using the back of a spoon or an offset spatula, spread the batter into a 3" circle. Repeat with another rounded teaspoon of batter. Bake at 300F for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly golden.  The cooking time will depend on your oven, mine were done at 8 minutes.  If the cookies break when you are trying to shape them, try cooking them for less time.

Working quickly, immediately remove each cookie from the pan with a spatula (an offset spatula works well), and flip over into gloved hand. Place your prepared valentine message in the center of each cookie and fold each cookie in half. Grasp the end of each cookie, and place over the edge of a bowl, pulling the edges down to form a crease. Place cookies, ends down, in a muffin pan to maintain shape while cooling. Let cool completely. Repeat procedure with the remaining batter, baking only 2 cookies at a time.

To Decorate: Microwave the chocolate chips in a small bowl at medium power for 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Dip the outer edge of the cooled cookie into the melted chocolate, then into decorator sugar or sprinkles. Place on waxed paper to let the chocolate harden. You can place the cookies in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to harden the chocolate faster.

Happy Valentine's!